Friday, November 18, 2005

Excellent tips on presentations and the use of PowerPoint!! Links to this post have been popping up all over the place - and for good reason. I found the first one - from Presentation Zen - to be great.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

In the spirit of "sharing" good stuff, here is a link to another source of great online learning information. While you have to take a few minutes to register (for free), it is worth the effort to gain access to the information.

I stumbled on this blog today from a link in another blog that I was linked to from someone who shared her blogroll with me (got to love the internet, don't you?) I have followed many of the same stories and I think the way the material is summarized in this blog is great!

As I followed the author's links in this blog, I ended up at the author's somewhat parallel blog entitled Ponderance. Then (if all this isn't exciting enough!), I followed the path to the iGeneration blog for a course facilitated by the author this semester is Australia. The course utilized blogs and podcasts. I really enjoyed reading through the material. This should be fun (and inspiring) to follow in the future!

Monday, November 14, 2005

The blurred lines of "learning", "education", "training", "information sharing" and "knowledge management" really puzzle me. Throughout my corporate life, the training and information I received at seminars and workshops was created and delivered almost exclusively by subject matter experts. As I developed in my field, I become one of those SMEs. As technology improved, I had better tools to transmit information out to employees in remote locations (corporate intranet portals, Lotus Notes bulletin boards, Web meetings) - but should that process of SMEs sharing information be referred to as "learning" or "education"?

It would be very easy to say "no", as steps in the typical educational approach are not present (i.e. assessment and evaluation). However, in most cases, this just-in-time information from SMEs is how employees "learn" about new developments in their field and the tools used in their job. The linked article struck a chord with me as it commingles the concepts of learning and information sharing referring to it as a "new paradigm in e-learning". Is what they describe in the article really "new" and is it really "learning"? I can probably argue both sides . . .

Friday, November 11, 2005

Like Moodle, the Sakai project is an open source LMS. As outlined in the "about" section of the web site, the Sakai project began in early 2004 by Indiana University and the University of Michigan. Soon after, MIT and Stanford joined and a recent post in Inside Higher Ed notes that currently over 80 colleges and universities are involved on the platform.

Ok, when I made the prior post, I didn't realize CastPost allows video - advantage CastPost (although my husband probably would not agree). My poor, poor husband has to endure many a "test" of things, including this. Unfortunately for him, he has no idea how to delete this content. Poor guy . . .

Here is my podcast test on http://castpost.com/. Looks like they are trying an ad revenue model. So far, I like GarageBand.com better, but this ability to post to blogger directly from CastPost is kind of nice . . .

Friday, November 04, 2005

Linked here is an interesting article regarding the "second coming" of community web sites. Along with the author, I remember the first attempts (anyone else have a geocities.com site?)

Content (blogs, IM, pictures, music) and increased functionality (instant downloads, integration with other familiar applications) appear to have made a big difference from the first attempts at creating online communities. Likely the same holds true for online learning communities. The more learners feel comfortable and connected to the "community", the more they will be attracted to the online learning experience.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

My favorite part of the internet is discovering new thoughts, ideas and free stuff through linking - you can always be sure, one discovery leads to another . . . Today, I stumbled on to this site from a link that JT posted in her blog. Believe it or not, Microsoft has provided this free technology for Windows users. Looks like a neat way to create a slide show with narration using standard digital photos (a kind of "poor man's" video).